Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

20% Of The World Could Have Digital Cash In Three Years: BIS   BY TYLER DURDEN WEDNESDAY, JAN 27, 2021 - 21:57 While most traders and finance pros are distracted by the ongoing war between Wall Street and Wall Street Bets which sparked market moves and short squeezes which until last week were viewed as unthinkable, we should remember that for all its entertainment value the crusade of a few millions GenZers is a sideshow which can be shut down with the flick of a switch. Indeed, tonight's main event, which saw the most heavily shorted stocks tumble the  moment the r/WallStreetBets subreddit went dark  (or rather "private") only to rebound once the forum reemerged, demonstrated just how easy it is for both Silicon Valley and Wall Street to silence these upstart voices and return to market to "normal." And all they have to do is to claim that there is "hate speech" on the forum - a truly shocking discovery within the testosterone-heavy world of ...

California's DMV Has Issued Permits For Baidu To Begin Testing Driverless Vehicles BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JAN 29, 2021 - 23:40 While Tesla allows any old random driver to act as a human beta tester for its "full self driving" (whatever that even means anymore), the California Department of Motor Vehicles has officially  issued an actual permit  to Baidu USA to begin testing driverless vehicles on public roads in Sunnyvale, California.  The agency made the announcement in a  press release  issued on Wednesday, stating that "while Baidu has had state authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers since 2016, the new permit allows the company to test three autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the wheel on specified streets within Sunnyvale, located in Santa Clara County." According to the release, Baidu's vehicles "are designed to operate on roads with posted speed limits not exceeding 45 miles per hour." Testing is allowed...

Facebook Bans "Robinhood Stock Traders Group" With 157,000 Members   BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JAN 29, 2021 - 15:47 Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,   Facebook has banned a group called ‘Robinhood stock traders’ that had 157,000 members, with its founder suggesting the group had been targeted by “major institutions.” The group has no formal affiliation with the stock trading app of the name same that froze stock purchases for GameStop yesterday, prompting widespread complaints from its users. The group’s 23-year-old founder Alan Tran told Reuters that the social media giant removed the page citing “adult sexual exploitation,” but provided no further reasoning for the ban. According to Tran, who also heads up his own investment group, HaiKhuu Trading, bots may have flagged the page because of the use of the term “gain porn,” which is a phrase relating to stock purchases and has no actual sexual connotation. Earlier this month, the group was also listed...

Walmart To Build More Robo-Warehouses As Amazon Fight Intensifies     BY TYLER DURDEN WEDNESDAY, JAN 27, 2021 - 23:00 It's no secret that Walmart is gearing up for a lengthy fight against rival Amazon.    Walmart's competitive advantages are their stores - and to complete last-mile deliveries, they must create local fulfillment centers  (LFC) with extensive automation to keep up with a surge in online orders.  Walmart's Tom Ward, SVP of Customer Product, published a  blog post  on the company's website outlining how LFCs, a modular warehouse added to an existing store, will be automated and stocked with additional items that are popular with customers.  Ward explains how LFCs work:  "Instead of an associate walking the store to fulfill an order from our shelves, automated bots retrieve the items from within the fulfillment center. The items are then brought to a picking workstation, where the order can be assembled wi...

Company Plans Mass Rollout Of Humanoid Robots To Replace Workers In Healthcare, Education   BY TYLER DURDEN MONDAY, JAN 25, 2021 - 22:50 Submitted by  PFW News   A Hong Kong-based robotics company plans to mass produce humanoid robots to replace workers across industries such as healthcare and education. Hanson Robotics is set to launch a mass rollout of human-like robots that can compete with human workers, something the company’s founder says is needed to keep people safe in the age of the coronavirus. “The world of Covid-19 is going to need more and more automation to keep people safe,” founder and chief executive David Hanson claims.  Hanson says the manufacturing process of putting together such robots has scaled to the point where his company can produce the AI machines in large quantities. The plan is to ramp up production of four models, including their best known model ‘Sophia’, and the new ‘Grace’ robot that are specifically built to lab...

Twitter Unveils "Birdwatch," A New Platform Where Users Fact-Check Tweets BY TYLER DURDEN MONDAY, JAN 25, 2021 - 13:52 Twitter has finally found a way to appease the leftist mob that has long been dictating policy on the app, while absolving itself of all responsibility. According to a story published by NBC News's Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny,  Twitter is launching a crowd-sourced feature intended to combat slander and misinformation in a similar way that Wikipedia flags potentially misleading tweets. The new system will allow users to "discuss" and "provide context" to tweets that "they believe to be misleading or false." Per NBC, the new project, called "Birdwatch," is a standalone section of Twitter that will at first only be available to a small set of users, largely on a first-come, first-served basis. Instead of giving priority to real fact-checkers, users will be required to use an account tied to a real phone...

Australia Hits Back At Google, Facebook: It's "Inevitable" You'll Soon Pay For Hosting Australian News   BY TYLER DURDEN SUNDAY, JAN 24, 2021 - 23:00 Neither side is backing down after weeks of standoff between the Australian government and Google over proposed legislation aimed at better compensating and rewarding local news publishers, while bringing greater transparency to the way algorithms employed by Google, Facebook, and YouTube work. Canberra is now finalizing the bill which  will require Google to obtained licenses for all content published by Australian news companies . Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. oversees an estimated at least 94%   of all search traffic in Australia, similar to many other countries globally, at a time it's coming under increased accusations of using its monopoly power to bully content providers and smaller competitors.  Australia's Federal Treasurer and deputy leader of the Liberal Party J...

Microsoft Patents AI-Chatbots That Imitate Dead People    BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JAN 22, 2021 - 21:20 The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)  granted  Microsoft one of the most bizarre patents to date:  chatbots using deceased people's personal information.  The Independent  reports Microsoft is creating an AI-based chatbot based on "images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages," and other personal information. It's thought that the chatbot would simulate the deceased person's human conversation.  This AI-based chatbot concept is straight out of a Black Mirror episode called "Be Right Back," where a young woman uses an AI-based chatbot to chat with her deceased partner.  The patent describes a "specific person [who the chatbot represents] may correspond to a past or present entity (or a version thereof), such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a histori...

Google Threatens Shut Down In Australia Over Bill Designed To Better Compensate Content Providers   BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JAN 22, 2021 - 20:40 A huge controversy erupted last summer between major US social media platforms and the Australian government over a bill designed to better compensate and reward local news publishers, while bringing greater transparency to the way algorithms employed by Google, Facebook, and YouTube work. Months after failed attempts to come to an agreement with the government of Australia, Google is now threatening the dramatic step of  shutting down its search engine in the country altogether . It stems from the initiative that seeks to ensure companies and content providers are  compensated fairly for the value their content generates  for Google and parent company Alphabet Inc. On Friday at a Senate hearing on the matter Google Australia Managing Director Mel Silva  told lawmakers ,  "If this ve...

Aurora And PACCAR Team Up In Autonomous Truck Push   BY TYLER DURDEN THURSDAY, JAN 21, 2021 - 14:30 Submitted by  Market Crumbs, Just last month  Uber unloaded its self-driving unit , Advanced Technologies Group, to Aurora to accelerate the development of the Aurora Driver, which is hoping to become the autonomous driving platform powering everything from passenger vehicles to heavy-duty trucks. Aurora is backed by names such as Amazon and Sequoia with Uber now reportedly  holding a more than 25% stake  in the company following last month's deal. Aurora was co-founded by  Chris Urmson , who headed Google's self-driving division for nearly eight years and is one of the most widely regarded names in the self-driving vehicle space. Aurora didn't take long to announce its next move following the acquisition of ATG as the company  signed a global strategic partnership  with trucking giant PACCAR to bring a self-driving trucks powered by the Aur...

Mercedes Unveils Electric SUV In EV Race Against Tesla, VW  BY TYLER DURDEN THURSDAY, JAN 21, 2021 - 5:45 Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz rolled out its battery-powered EQA SUV as part of a plan to take on Tesla and Volkswagen.  Mercedes-Benz's first fully-electric SUV will be available in the coming months. EQA's retail price will be set around 47,541 euros ($57,734) and have a range of approximately 486 kilometers (302 miles).  Bloomberg  notes unlike Tesla Inc.'s Model 3 or Volkswagen AG's ID.3, Mercedes-Benz outfitted an existing combustion-engine vehicle with electric motors instead of developing one from scratch.  "The German manufacturer modified the underpinnings of its GLA crossover to reduce upfront investment and save time compared to building an all-electric vehicle from scratch. It's a trade-off that often comes at the expense of driving distance and production-cost efficiencies," Bloomberg said.  Bloomberg Intellig...

Poland Set To Make Censoring Social Media Accounts Illegal​​​​​​​   BY TYLER DURDEN SATURDAY, JAN 16, 2021 - 7:35 On Jan. 6, pro-Trump extremists  stormed  the US Capitol complex and disrupted Congress's joint session to confirm President-elect Joe Biden's electoral victory. Days later, social media companies went on a free speech crusade against President Trump,  banning  or limiting the president from various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat. It appears some Polish government officials have denounced big tech's censorship of Trump. They are preparing to draft a law that will make it illegal for tech firms to ban accounts, according to  The Guardian .  "Algorithms or the owners of corporate giants should not decide which views are right and which are not,"  wrote the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. "There is no and can be no consent to censorship." Morawiecki's comments were published on Facebook days a...

In Historic First, FAA Approves Fully Automated Commercial Drones In US Skies   BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JAN 15, 2021 - 18:40   In nothing less than a revolutionary step for aviation and which will forever alter the skies over America, on Thursday the Federal Aviation Administration for the first time  issued approval for the first fully automated commercial drone flights . It's been revealed Friday that the FAA granted a small Massachusetts-based company called American Robotics Inc. the authorization to operate automated drones, meaning  they won't need either hands-on piloting on the ground or direct observation while in flight . Commercial drone operation was already given approval under extremely limited conditions - for example as a remote inspection tool for agricultural areas or railroads, but so long as human operators were in the vicinity, along with spotters. The Wall Street Journal reports of  the new approval : "...in its acti...